AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’ve got Stockholm syndrome, Riley. It happens. Victims become emotionally attached to their captors.”
“I haven’t got Stockholm syndrome, Liam. I’ve got a son, and he was on that fucking plane!” I scream, breaking into tears as the pain of saying the words out loud seeps deeper into the pit of my stomach.
The shock on Liam’s face matches everyone else’s surrounding me.
“No one mentioned anything about a fucking kid!” The guy standing beside the truck door slams his fist down on the hood. He only looks a few years older than my brother, but he’s huge and covered in tattoos.
“Calm down, Nyx, nobody fucking knew,” the old man orders him before turning his back and kicking his boot into the truck tire.
“I… I didn’t know that, Riley.” I hear a tremble in Liam’s voice as his blue eyes fill with guilt. “If I did, we would have planned this differently and rescued you both.”
“Is Verretti the father of your kid?” Jessie asks me sympathetically before his eyes shift nervously to the old guy who I assume is in charge.
“Yes,” I nod, the combination of pain and anger becoming too much to contain.
“Then we’re gonna figure out a way to get him back,” he promises, nodding at Liam before he disappears inside the back of the truck. He’s followed by the others, and the older guy is the last one to leave us and get in the front passenger seat.
Liam stands beside me, patiently waiting for me to watch the plane get smaller and further out of sight.
“Riley. I’m so sorry. All I’ve been focused on is getting you back. I swear none of us knew you had a kid.” The plane is gone now, and my heart is in tatters. I can’t imagine how Rafe must be feeling. The destroyed look on his face before the door closed broke my heart.
“I love him,” I whisper as more tears stream over my cheeks.
“Of course you do, and we will get him back, I promise,”
“I love Raphael Verretti.” I turn my head to look at my brother, and the horrified look on his face as he stares back at me only makes me angrier at him.
“We were a family, and you and your friends have just ruined my life,” I tell him as calmly as I can manage. The empty feeling in my heart is all the evidence I need to tell me that I belong with Rafe. Despite the man he is, he’s the man I love, and I’ve come to learn we don’t get a choice in who holds our heart.
“You didn’t love him. He just made you think you did. You were his prisoner. He’s a woman-whoring cunt, Riley, one who has fucked with your head for two years. You’ll recover from this. We’ll get your boy back.”
I turn my body and raise my elbow, crunching up my fist and then landing it on his jaw, the way he taught me to years ago.
“You don’t know shit about my life, Liam.” I leave him rubbing his cheek and strut my way toward the side door of the ‘cage’ or whatever the fuck these people call it.
I have little choice but to go with them, but with God as my witness, I will not allow these people to tarnish what me and Rafe have. I will prove that I’m not crazy and then demand that they give me back to him.
“It’s not Liam anymore. I’m Storm now,” my brother calls out at me as I’m about to get inside, and I turn to look at him over my shoulder.
“And I’m Riley Verretti.” I show him a proud smile despite feeling destroyed. To get through this, I’m going to need to be brave and bide my time.
I don’t fear these people. I fear what will become of them. Because I know what Rafe is capable of… I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
It’s only a matter of time before he comes for me, and may God have mercy on all these Souls when he does.
The End
